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Philippines ranks 8th among 135 on world gender equality

By: Michelle V. Remo


Philippine Daily Inquirer
12:48 AM November 3rd, 2011
The Philippines, where women and men enjoy the same access to education, remains
in the top 10 countries with the least gender gap, according to the 2011 Global Gender
Gap rankings by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum. From ninth place last year,
the Philippines ranks eighth among 135 countries this year, with a score of 0.768.
The annual survey shows that four Nordic countriesIceland, Norway, Finland and
Swedenlead the world again in promoting equality of the sexes. Other countries in the
Top 10 are Ireland (5th), New Zealand (6th), Denmark (7th), Lesotho (9th) and
Switzerland (10th). Countries in the bottom 10 are Nepal (126th), Oman (127th), Benin
(128th), Morocco (129th), Cote dIvoire (130th), Saudi Arabia (131st), Mali (132nd),
Pakistan (133rd), Chad (134th) and Yemen (135th).
Closing gender gap
The world rankings are

aimed at increasing the awareness of countries on the

importance of closing the gender gap, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF).
A world where women make up less than 20 percent of the global decision-makers is a
world that is missing a huge opportunity for growth and ignoring an untapped reservoir
of potential, Klaus Schwab, WEF founder and chair, said in a statement. The
Philippines performed favorably in the four categories that determine gender gap. These
are (1) educational attainment, (2) health and survival, (3) economic participation and
opportunity, and (4) political empowerment.
The Philippines got the perfect score of 1, and thus grabbing the first rank, for the first
two categories.

For the first category, the Philippines shares the top rank with 21 other countries,
including the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Australia. The Philippines
favorable performance in the first category comes amid official reports that the number
of females who attend primary, secondary and tertiary education is about the same as
that of males. (In certain levels, females outnumber males.)
Life expectancy
The countrys top rank in the second category shows that women and men in the
Philippines have just about the same life expectancy. Life expectancy is affected by
various factors, such as disease, malnutrition and violence. For the second category,
the Philippines shares the top rank with 37 other countries, including Finland, Lesotho,
Latvia, the Bahamas and Argentina. In the third category of economic participation and
opportunity, the Philippines ranks 15th with a score of 0.763. In this category, countries
are evaluated based on gaps between men and women in terms of work participation,
remuneration and advancement opportunities.
Government positions
In the fourth category of political empowerment, the Philippines ranks 16th with a
score of 0.331. Countries are evaluated in this category based on the gap between men
and women in terms of women-to-men ratio in government positions. The world has
made great progress in eliminating inequality between men and women in health and
education, but not in economic participation and political empowerment, the WEF said.
But no country has closed the gap between men and women when it comes to health
and survival, educational attainment, economic participation and opportunity and
political empowerment.
The annual survey, released at a press conference, showed that over the past six years
about 85 percent of countries have narrowed the gender gap. But in other countries the
gap widened and the situation for women worsened, including in Nigeria, Mali,
Colombia, Tanzania and El Salvador.

Pakistan, Chad and Yemen were at the bottom of the list.


Huge gap in empowerment
Saadia Zahidi, head of the forums women leaders and gender parity program, said the
world as a whole had closed about 96 percent of the gender gap in health and 93
percent in educationbut only about 60 percent of the gap in economic participation
and less than 20 percent in political empowerment. So women are starting to be as
healthy and as educated as men, and yet, are not being channeled into the economy,
into decision-making structures, she said.
Zahidi said closing the gender gaps are directly correlated with increased economic
competitiveness. With the world focused on job creation and economic growth, she
said, gender equality is the key to unlocking potential and stimulating economies.
Major strides
The survey shows that a number of relatively poor countries have made major strides to
close the gender gap and rank in the top 25the Philippines, Lesotho, South Africa,
Cuba, the Bahamas and Burundi. They outrank Russia at number 43, China at 51,
Brazil at 82, Italy at 74, Qatar at 111, India at 113 and Saudi Arabia at 131.
US Ambassador-at-large Melanne Verveer, who is in charge of global womens issues,
said progress was being made, but women still faced significant hurdles in getting
access to finance, markets and training and in leading companies where there is still an
enormous glass ceiling.
WEF is an international organization of large and multinational companies, mostly with
annual turnover of $5 billion. It discusses various economic and social issues affecting
development. With a report from AP

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